{"id":21457,"date":"2018-04-05T07:04:38","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T15:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=21457"},"modified":"2018-04-05T07:04:38","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T15:04:38","slug":"shocker-hard-rock-rocksino-sold-new-top-man-at-sls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/shocker-hard-rock-rocksino-sold-new-top-man-at-sls\/","title":{"rendered":"Shocker: Hard Rock Rocksino sold; New top man at SLS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite being the dominant racino operator — hell, gaming operator — in Ohio<\/strong>, it seems that Hard Rock International<\/strong> is throwing in the towel. It’s selling Hard Rock Rocksino<\/strong> to MGM Growth Properties<\/strong>. Early Wall \"\"Street<\/strong> speculation is that we’re just seeing the beginning of the transaction. JP Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong> expects that the operating company half of Hard Rock will be spun off to a third party, but “we\u2019d be surprised if it was MGM or some other operator with a meaningful Ohio operation.” Adds Deutsche Bank<\/strong>‘s Carlo Santarelli,<\/strong> “we believe, given the lessons learned from the GLPI acquisition of Meadows<\/strong>, that some loose agreements\/backstops are likely in place.” (Gaming & Leisure Properties<\/strong> acquired the Meadows racino in Pennsylvania<\/strong> with an eye to having Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong> run it.) MGM is paying a pretty penny for the physical asset: $1 billion or 13 times cash flow. Whew! Given the drawing power of the racino, however, we’d hesitate to say that MGM Growth Properties overpaid.<\/p>\n

Still, it’s getting the most strategically located racino in Ohio, exactly midway between Cleveland<\/strong> and Akron<\/strong>. In addition to a horse track, gas station and car wash (never underestimate the importance of a good car wash), it comes with 2,300 VLTs, assets which are sure to make a pretty penny for the eventual tenant.<\/p>\n

* Now that Alex Meruelo<\/strong> has taken the keys to SLS Las Vegas<\/strong>, he’s wasted no time in installing a veteran casino executive as general \"\"manager. Paul Hobson<\/strong> isn’t a household name, even in gaming circles, but he’s got 27 years in the industry, mainly with American Casino & Entertainment Properties<\/strong>, including six profitable years<\/a> at the Stratosphere<\/strong> (he seems to have been a casualty of the Golden Entertainment<\/strong> takeover). So he knows a thing or two about operating in the challenging climate that is the North Strip. He’s also got credits on his resum\u00e9 from Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>, MGM Resorts International<\/strong> and Affinity Gaming<\/strong>. In short, he knows the business. Meruelo would seem to have chosen well.<\/p>\n

* Illinois<\/strong> gaming revenues dipped a bit last month, down 2% at $128.5 million. Foot traffic was 6% lower, customer spending 5% higher, thanks \"\"perhaps to an extra weekend day. Boyd Gaming<\/strong> beat the odds at Par-A-Dice<\/strong>, up 1.5% to $7.5 million (the property has really suffered from slot-route competition in the past). Penn National Gaming<\/strong> was not so lucky. Its Argosy Belle<\/strong> was flat ($4.5 million) but Hollywood Aurora<\/strong> tumbled 12% to $11 million, while Empress Joliet<\/strong>\u00a0was up 2% to $11.5 million. Despite grossing $16 million, MGM’s Grand Victoria<\/strong> was off 1.5%. Caesars Entertainment gets a mulligan, since flooding closed Harrah’s Metropolis<\/strong> Feb. 25-March 15. \u00a0It was down 41% to $4 million. Harrah’s Joliet<\/strong> picked up some of the slack, grossing $17 million for a 2.5% increase.<\/p>\n

Jumer’s Casino Rock Island<\/strong> was flat, grossing $6.5 million while GLPI’s Casino Queen<\/strong> was up 2% to $10 million. That leaves the 800-lb. gorilla, Neil Bluhm<\/strong>‘s Rivers Casino<\/strong> in Des Plaines<\/strong>, which grossed $40.5 million, good for a 4% increase.<\/p>\n

* March gaming numbers for Nevada<\/strong> aren’t in yet but JP Morgan’s Greff predicts Reno<\/strong>‘s while be a little damp, thanks to two weekends of snow. Further south, he likes the dynamics of the Las Vegas<\/strong> locals market: “The \"\"LV Locals environment remains attractive with low unemployment (~5%), steady wage growth (pacing +5%), a stable housing market, and strong construction pipeline (~$13b, with construction jobs tracking increasing ~10% y\/y).” Lastly, he’s got a warm spot for Eldorado Resorts<\/strong>, citing “(1) its exposure to growing markets: Reno (NV), Black Hawk<\/strong> (CO), Columbus<\/strong> (OH), and Pompano<\/strong> (FL), (2) continued synergies at Isle<\/strong> properties, (3) favorable impact from tax reform, and (4) an active M&A environment that provides optionality. We expect ERI to continue to generate steady, above-peer [cash flow] growth on limited\/no top-line growth.” Sounds like a solid bet to us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite being the dominant racino operator — hell, gaming operator — in Ohio, it seems that Hard Rock International is throwing in the towel. It’s selling Hard Rock Rocksino to MGM Growth Properties. Early Wall Street speculation is that we’re … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208,173,235,60,27,14,199,36,190,97,165,7,58,85,11,91,71,69,95,30,79,195,9,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21458,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21457\/revisions\/21458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}